"So." Principal Celestia tilted her head as she studied her guest. "You look older."

Desert Mirage shifted uneasily under the scrutiny. "Um, just a few years? I guess I look more like I would if I was age-accurate when I crossed the mirror."

"Thank you for coming so fast," Luna said, giving Mirage a hug and a peck.

Despite her frown, Celestia couldn't help but smirk briefly before going back to the problem at hand. "I realize there was nothing to be done about it, given the circumstances, but I'm not happy about you bringing guns onto school grounds."

"I already stored them," Mirage assured her. "Besides, we're outside of the school."

Celestia took a slow, calming breath. "Yes, but I want you to keep them out of sight while you're on campus. Even though I know you won't hurt anyone, I still don't want any of those things on the premises if at all possible."

Mirage nodded. "I understand."

"What I don't understand is how you, Mirage, are here. Luna told me Sunset Shimmer was in a coma."

Mirage and Luna exchanged glances, and it was Mirage that answered, "I am. Something went wrong during an experiment and I ended up transported here. My mind is busy in this body, and my original body..." she shivered. "I hope I can go back."

Celestia took a moment to sort through that, but nodded. "Me too," she said at length. "I'll miss my student in the meantime."

Mirage smiled. "Thank you."

"But, we also need to address what just happened today," Celestia continued. "Those GGO monsters... were they here due to your experiment?"

Sunset cringed. "I'm not sure. I don't see how, given that we pulled the plug on it. Twilight was going to go over the data today, but that's literally just going through what was recorded on the hard drives, nothing involving a connection to GGO at all, much less opening any portals."

"Then how did this happen?" Luna asked, motioning to the torn-up grounds.

"I-I don't know." Mirage looked over the grounds worriedly. "Maybe the statue's magic is linked somehow to GGO?" She paused and shook her head. "But that doesn't make sense, since it's a one-way connection to Equestria that only activates when Princess Twilight wishes it to."

"Is it only connected to Equestria?" Principal Celestia asked. "Are you sure?"

Mirage nodded. "Very. There's no reason for it to connect to GGO, it would need to be re-directed there, but I can't imagine how it would be done. I'd ask Princess Twilight, but I have no way of contacting anypony in Equestria with my diary gone."

Luna's eyes widened. "Wait... but I do."

Celestia and Mirage turned to stare at her.

"Luna, please tell me you didn't go into another universe when you ran away years ago, became the student of some magical being and also brought a journal to communicate with them," Celestia said, her tone half-joking, half-worried.

"N-no! Nothing like that!" Luna rolled her eyes. "When Sunset came back, she gave me a letter from Princess Luna, and it has a magical clasp that allows me to talk to her."

Mirage blinked. "Well. That solves one problem."

"Partially," Principal Celestia said, "because if you're right, and the statue has nothing to do with it, why did those monsters come here at all?"

"I don't know," Mirage admitted. "But I need to talk to Twilight, she's the only person I know who could have any idea."

Celestia nodded. "You do that, in the meantime Luna and I need to figure out what to tell the students and staff about you."

Mirage cringed. "Can't you just tell them I'm some sort of Slayer, like Pinkie's friend?"

"That won't work," Celestia replied, rolling her eyes. "For one, I have no idea who you speak of, or what a Slayer is in the first place. And secondly, the students saw Luna call you. I wouldn't be surprised if they suspect we know all about you by now."

Luna nodded a little reluctantly. "We need to think of something fast, we did say we'd update everyone."

"Maybe we should tell them that Mirage here is a monster hunter we hired to protect the school," Celestia muttered. "That way we could have Mirage around. But I worry that that might create too much contact with the students and I don't want you encouraging gunslinging."

Luna rubbed her temples. "As it is we're going to have to get the staff to pay attention and have talks with their classes about safety and gun control."

Mirage bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I never thought about even owning one gun outside of the video game and now I'm carrying several."

"Well, at least they're still just your game guns, unless you decided to stop on the way here to purchase weapons," Celestia sighed. "I think we'll have to get a bit creative with what we tell the students for now. We'll go with you being a certified, law-abiding Monster Hunter with a license and ties to Interpol."

"Interpol?" Luna asked. "Really?"

"It's less likely that we have any students who know anyone at all that might work for Interpol than other agencies."

"But what do we do about her resemblance to Sunset Shimmer?" Luna asked. "She looks just like an older version of herself with shorter hair."

Celestia bit her lip. "We can say she's this world's version of Sunset. There's only so much we can make up before we slip and the similarities will not go unnoticed."

Mirage sighed. "Fair enough. I'll go home and do some research on Interpol while Twilight gets back to me. I guess I need to figure out what my 'other me' does for work in this world."

Luna nodded, trying not to smile. "After classes I'll pick up my clasp and bring it to you. Princess Luna said that it would only work at night, but maybe you can make sure?"

"Absolutely," Mirage smirked. "I'm still one of Equestria's best mages, after all."

"It is agreed then," Principal Celestia said. "I'll also join you two later today, we need to figure out exactly what to say, and make sure our stories match."

The other two agreed, and Celestia started walking back to school. "Don't take long, sister. I'll make the announcement within ten minutes," she called over her shoulder.

"How are you holding up?" Luna asked Mirage once they were alone.

Mirage sighed and motioned with her head for Luna to follow her. They walked away from the school to where she had parked her motorcycle.

"I'm dealing," Mirage said once they were completely outside of school premises. She hugged herself, leaning back against a lamppost. "I'm wondering if this morning is going to be the rest of my life."

"What, shooting lizard monsters outside of school? Maybe you should move on to other monsters for variety. From the way Pinkie tells it, her friend's life is never dull."

Mirage rolled her eyes. "I mean waking up to a comatose body waiting for care. Having to clean up, replace IV bags, do exercises for my old body, and just watch me grow... old."

"Oh, Sunset," Luna whispered, drawing her into a hug. "We'll find a way to get you back into your body. I promise."

Mirage returned the hug and nodded against Luna's shoulder. "I want to be Sunset Shimmer again so bad," she whispered. "I never thought I would want to be just me." She chuckled in the embrace. "Funny how things change."

Luna shook her head and slowly released Mirage. "You know it's only a matter of time before we help make you whole again, Mirage," she said. "We've already seen what's supposed to be impossible so many times. Keep strong."

"I guess there's not much of a choice," Mirage replied, giving Luna's hand a squeeze before walking up to her motorcycle and revving it up. "If I don't, we might all suffer for it."

"I'll see you tonight," Luna said, stepping back. "I'll bring the clasp. We'll talk to the princess. Things will work out."

Mirage smiled, blowing Luna a kiss as she took off. "I hope so."

Rainbow Dash barely paid attention to what her teacher was saying as she looked out the window and saw the woman that had come in to save them all being approached by Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna.

There was something familiar about her. Although she could see her clearly enough to know that it wasn't anyone she actually knew. Besides, other than some police officers, she was sure none of her acquaintances owned any guns whatsoever.

Still, something nagged at her. Little things, movements, pose... It just screamed: You know this woman! But Rainbow's crew was all her own age. Who was this person? This Desert Mirage?

Soon Celestia walked away from the discussion and Luna and Mirage followed suit soon after, heading away from the school and out of sight.

Rainbow Dash growled and turned back to look at her teacher.

Taking a deep breath, Celestia leaned forward and turned on the intercom.

"Everyone, your attention please. Dear students and faculty, we have confirmed the few missing students today were safely at home. Everyone else made it within the premises before the monsters could get to them.

"First of all, let me say how proud I am of all of you. Even the first years, who have had a little less experience with interdimensional magic, behaved with bravery and were willing to stand up and defend our school from danger." Celestia smiled briefly. "Having said that, I'm afraid we need to be more cautious, as previous enemies wanted us for better or worse... alive.

"At this point, we do not know why the monsters attacked. We have confirmed that this was not caused by the statue's powers. While there appear to be no more monsters around, we are sending you all home today to try and relax.

"As many of you saw today, we were rescued by a professional monster hunter. She works in conjunction with international law enforcement and is stationed nearby in case of another attack. At this time, we ask you not to bother her as you might interrupt her investigation. She will not be coming into the school building.

"Please head home and come back tomorrow, ready for class. Be sure to check your email tonight, if there are any developments we will inform you about them. Students, you are all free to go home now, stay safe and see you tomorrow. Faculty and staff, please meet with me and Vice Principal Luna in my office."

Desert Mirage had just closed the door behind her, when she got a call on her interface. Blinking, she went over to get a bottle of water before sitting down and answering.

"Surgeon?"

"Hello, Mirage," Surgeon's voice came clearly through the com. "You appear logged, but I haven't seen you around, what's going on?"

"A lot of RL stuff, Surgeon, making things very complicated."

"Ah, sorry to hear that... but, are you sure you're okay? The logs show you've been online since we got together to tackle the dungeon. It's not healthy to stay online so long."

"I know, I know," Mirage sighed. "I've been offline, I'm not sure why the log says otherwise, but I've eaten, slept and hung out with friends, I promise."

"Fair enough," Surgeon's voice sounded relieved. "I knew someone that got caught up in the SAO incident... I'd rather not have that happen to any more friends."

Mirage gulped. "I understand, sorry to make you worry."

"No problem, just remember that you have friends here as well, anything you need, or if you're in some sort of trouble, we're here for you, Mirage."

Mirage smiled. "Thank you, Surgeon."

"Well, we still have about a week before the final so there's not much else to talk about... except that book you mentioned."

This perked Mirage up. "Yes? Did you see it? Do you have it?"

"I'm afraid not," Surgeon replied. "But you weren't using a book, why would it drop?"

Mirage slumped. "It's hard to explain. I'd go back to look myself, but I can't at the moment."

Surgeon was silent for a few seconds. "I'll go with the others and look around, if we find something, we'll let you know."

"Thanks, Surgeon," Mirage said, chuckling. "I seem to be thanking you a lot, lately."

She heard a chuckle in response.

"We're worried about you," Surgeon said. "We all saw you disappear... and you've been a little erratic."

"I'm glad I have friends like you guys," Mirage replied, eyes going to the guest room where her body rested. "Maybe one day I can explain all of this to you."

"Can you believe that?!" Rainbow Dash muttered, heading the group as they made their way out of school. "She didn't even say who this Desert Mirage was! What are they hiding?"

"Rainbow dear, I fear you might be taking things too seriously."

"Really, Rarity?" Rainbow Dash spun around. "Too seriously? We just saw Flash Sentry almost get skewered by a giant lizard, some gunslinger come shooting out of nowhere to take monsters down, Sunset Shimmer is absent in the middle of all of this and she doesn't deserve more than a 'she can't make it' comment, and I'm taking Celestia's dodge 'too seriously'?"

"Well, I certainly see no reason to immediately assume the worst," Rarity said, eyes narrowing. "That has caused us some problems before, hasn't it?"

"Ah think we all need to calm down," Applejack spoke up, stepping between the pair before fists flew. "Ah'm not sure what's goin' on with Sunset, but Ah reckon us fightin' over it ain't gonna solve anything."

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and turned away, taking a deep breath, while Rarity looked down.

"Applejack is right," Rarity said after collecting her thoughts. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow. I shouldn't have said that."

Rainbow Dash's shoulders slumped. "Me too. I'm sorry I got defensive, I just really don't think we're being told everything. There's something just nagging me about Mirage. I'm sorry I took it out on you."

"Yay! Friendship!" Pinkie giggled, hugging them both and drawing smiles from the pair.

"Um, so are we going home?" Fluttershy asked, walking up from behind Applejack.

"For now," Applejack declared. "Ah reckon we should get together for practice and to talk things over later today, what do y'all think?'

"Sounds good to me," Rainbow Dash said. "About four sounds right for you?"

After getting several nods in response and waving goodbye to her friends, Rainbow Dash headed home, lost in thought. There were many things bugging her.

While they hadn't said as much, Celestia and Luna clearly knew what those monsters were. Not only that, but they also knew where they came from. There were so many things to keep track of... she wasn't really one for paying too much attention to the details as it were, and it was annoying to think that she had seen Mirage somewhere before.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she stopped and looked around, before smirking and making her way to the corner newsstand. Maybe the new air show magazine was out, and she could always count on airplanes to make her feel better.

As she walked towards the stand, however, she became more and more sure that she had seen Desert Mirage somewhere there before.

Frowning, she stopped in front of the newsstand and looked around, trying to see if there was a landmark or something. Maybe Mirage lived in the area? Had they crossed paths before?

Nothing.

With a groan, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to the magazines. Outdoor lifestyle magazines, Sports, Online 'Sports', and finally, airplanes.

"Awesome! It's out!" Rainbow Dash grinned and pulled the newest airshow magazine as anticipated, turning around to pay when, suddenly, she felt her blood run cold.

Slowly, she turned back to look at the stacked magazines.

She blinked.

Right in front of her, on the cover of some sort of gun magazine—caught in the middle of shooting two guns as she faced a much bigger armored guy with some sort of terminator-like gun—was Desert Mirage.

Hesitantly, she picked up the magazine. "No way."